Chapter 79 : The Correlation Between Anomalous Phenomena and Items

Damn it.

I was planning to spend the whole day getting used to the new house, watching Ayase’s stream, and testing out various functions in the broadcast studio—but thanks to Yui Seul and the Awakened Association, the whole day was ruined.

At Yui Seul’s urging, I rushed out of the house in a hurry.

Naturally, I didn’t even get a chance to wash my face.

But I knew very well how urgent the situation was.

It’s Yui Seul we’re talking about—if even she went out of her way to call me for help, it must be serious.

Looking disheveled, I stepped out in front of the house, only to find Yui Seul—who somehow looked even more disheveled than I did—waiting in front of a sports car.

As soon as she saw my face, she looked slightly startled.

“You really came out right away?”

“You told me to come out right away…”

I replied in a hoarse voice.

For reference, it hadn’t even been ten minutes since I woke up.

“Just get in. I’ll explain on the way.”

I got in the car.

As soon as I buckled my seatbelt, Yui Seul hit the gas.

It must’ve been something urgent.

She kept glancing at me while watching the road, then casually tossed out a comment.

“You look disgusting. You could’ve at least wiped the gunk out of your eyes.”

“You’re the one who told me not to even wash up and just come outside!”

“I didn’t think you’d actually come out without washing your face. Are you even a woman?”

Is she insane?

Yeah, she’s either a psycho or a total lunatic.

“And by the way, I’ve been meaning to say this—what the hell is that outfit? We’re not going on a picnic or anything. Desperate to look pretty, huh? Why not just go all out and put on makeup too?”

“I wore this on purpose, okay!? If I don’t want reporters to figure out who I am, I need to go with something flashy—”

“There are no reporters today.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s dangerous. Anyway, use these wet wipes and clean your face. I seriously can’t even look at you like that.”

“Okay, fine. But…”

While rubbing my face roughly with the wipes, I gave her a side glance.

Then I added,“You’re not really in a position to talk either, you know?”

“Shut up.”

“…”

Yui Seul looked like a wreck.

She didn’t seem injured or anything, but her whole body was covered in dirt.

There was so much dirt on her that the expensive sports car’s seats were already covered in dust, and even the air inside the car felt murky.

I waited quietly until Yui Seul finally spoke to me.

“Nggh…!”

Suddenly, as the car sped up, an embarrassingly awkward sound escaped my lips.

“Aren’t… aren’t you driving a bit too fast?”

“We’re in a hurry.”

“Yeah, judging by the way you look, I can tell this is urgent. But still—driving this fast through the middle of Seoul is a bit…”

What if we get in an accident?

We’re on our way to resolve an anomalous phenomenon and protect people, but we might end up hitting someone instead.

“I’m on the hotline. Stop freaking out. If you’re scared, pray to your god or something.”

Ah.

Hotline.

I’ve heard of that traffic system before.

Obviously, the sooner you resolve an anomalous phenomenon, the better.

Leaving it unattended for too long only creates more unpredictable variables.

But Awakened Ones are humans, not machines.

Since they’re scattered all over the country, the general rule is to call the one who lives closest to the occurrence zone.

However, not every Awakened One can fly around like Superman, so the time it takes to arrive at the scene has to be factored in.

The Hotline System is a special road traffic system created to minimize that precious travel time for Awakened Ones.

I’ve never seen a hotline in person, and I don’t have a license, so I’ve never driven—I don’t know the details.

But given the following:We didn’t hit a single red light the entire drive,

We’ve been cruising through the middle of Seoul at speeds no lower than 130 km/h,And we’re using the bus-only lane.

It’s pretty clear that the traffic system is being adjusted in real time to fit Yui Seul’s route.

In other words,The sports car she’s driving isn’t just a luxury item.

It’s an essential transport vehicle for resolving anomalous phenomena.

Then Yui Seul asked me a question.

“List the 5 steps of Anomalous Phenomenon Resolution.”

I tried to recall the lessons she drilled into me.

“…Investigation. Execution. Assess all variables. Reinvestigation. Execution again.”

“Good. You remembered.”

This is a concept Yui Seul always emphasized.

‘Smash in first. Think later.’

When you’re facing an Anomalous Phenomenon, you’re not given much time to think.

So you just dive in headfirst—then assess the situation after things have already started.

It’s not too late to think then.

Of course, this method of hers is considered reckless by most other Awakened Ones.

What if smashing in headfirst gets your mind corrupted or puts a hole through your stomach?

This method only works because she’s an Awakened One capable—in theory—of countering any Anomalous Phenomenon attack.

And the same goes for me.

That’s something I realized when I resolved the Portrait of a Madwoman.

I’m not completely immune to mental attacks like Yui Seul is.

But at the very least, I do have strong enough mental resilience that my mind won’t just collapse.

So I can handle mental attacks to some extent.

And when it comes to physical attacks—well, I’ve got a body of steel, so that goes without saying.

In other words, I can also resolve anomalous phenomena using the same approach as Yui Seul.

Step 1: Investigation—check the Wiki’s information on the phenomenon.

Steps 2 and 3: Execute and identify possible outcomes while engaging the phenomenon and relaying the Wiki info to Yui Seul in real time.

Since my body is tough and my mind is intact, there’s no need to step back and play it safe.

Yui Seul continued talking.

“To cut to the chase, this anomalous phenomenon is one of those cases where charging in headfirst totally screwed us over.”

“So… you’re saying your method doesn’t work this time. At least for this one.”

“Exactly.

With this one… we should’ve analyzed the hell out of it before doing anything.

Then again, if it were the kind of phenomenon that could be resolved just by analyzing it, I wouldn’t have called you in the first place.”

She kept explaining.

“Honestly, I was at home training when that damn old man contacted me in a panic, so I don’t really know what went down during the first encounter.

The other Awakened Ones probably followed protocol and handled it properly.”

“But either way, they failed to resolve it.”

“And Ye Jeong-hwan called me.”

“What kind of phenomenon is it?”

“Within a 300-meter radius, it pulls everything toward the center with gravity. Light, heat—literally everything. Think of it like a low-grade black hole.”

“Holy sh— Are the other Awakened Ones okay?”

“You’re not worried about me?”

“You’re alive. Doesn’t look like you’re injured either.”

“…You little brat. Anyway, the other Awakened Ones? Of course they’re not fine. Oh Hyun-jong lost an arm. And that kid with the purple-dyed hair… what’s his name again?”

“Mr. Sang-jun?”

“Ah, right.

Ahn Sang-jun.

I heard all his fingernails got ripped out.

But hey, at least no one died—once you’re outside the 300-meter range, the phenomenon doesn’t activate.

Oh Hyun-jong stuck his arm inside first, so he just lost that and got out.

Ahn Sang-jun tried testing it with his fingers and ended up losing all his nails.

If either of them had shoved their whole body in, they would’ve ended up at a literal organ buffet—dead on the spot.”

“…”

The fact that Yui Seul could talk about something so gruesome with zero emotion only confirmed for me that, yeah—she’s definitely a psycho.

“So the other Awakened Ones retreated, you were deployed… but you couldn’t resolve it either?”

“Yeah.

Like I said, this time charging in headfirst was the wrong move.

I tried approaching and cutting it down, but it wouldn’t get cut.

The problem with this one is time.

There just wasn’t enough of it.

I couldn’t even complete step 3—assessing the variables.

Just getting close meant moving 300 meters in, and pulling back meant another 300 meters out.

A 600-meter round trip while the phenomenon was active—and in that span…”

“Everything went to hell?”

“It didn’t just go to hell—it got completely wiped out. I told you, it’s a poor man’s black hole. Just the time it took to move was enough to make the ground cave in all the way down to the bedrock. So I had to pull back.”

“…Umm, I’ve got a question.”

“Ask away.”

“How did you survive?”

The Awakened One named Ahn Sang-jun had all his fingernails ripped out just from the tips of his fingers breaching the 300-meter range.

Oh Hyun-jong, who stuck in his left arm, had the entire arm torn off.

Even if it’s a degraded version of a black hole, just hearing about the gravitational force of that anomalous phenomenon makes it clear—it’s not something a human body could possibly withstand.

And yet.

Although she was covered head-to-toe in dirt, Yui Seul didn’t have a single scratch on her.

When I asked out of genuine curiosity, she answered like it was no big deal.

“I cut it.”

“Cut what?”

“Gravity.”

“…”

The term “property” refers to the inherent traits of an object, person, or phenomenon.

The act of pulling things in with gravity is also a kind of property possessed by the phenomenon known as a “black hole.”

Yui Seul’s sword, Iron Sword No. 3, is a blade that can sever those very “properties.”

So it’s not that strange to say she cut gravity—or more precisely, the property of pulling things in through gravity.

Not strange logically, that is.

Accepting it, on the other hand, is a whole different matter.

How is she even human?

She’s just a monster at this point.

Well, to be fair, even Yui Seul’s sword seems to have its limits.

No matter how many “properties” it can sever, it doesn’t mean she can slash through the entire entity of every anomalous phenomenon.

In fact, she wasn’t able to slash through the core of the “Portrait of a Madwoman” anomaly either.

Why is that?

Maybe it’s because the core of that phenomenon is something so unknown, so alien, that the very concept of “property” doesn’t apply to it?

That could be it.

But if I were to hazard a guess.

I’d say every Item and anomalous phenomenon might have a specific hierarchy or ranking.

For example:Let’s say there’s an Item called the “Spear that Can Pierce Anything,”and an anomalous phenomenon that manifests as a “Shield that Blocks Everything.”

As long as the laws of causality exist in this world, only one result is possible—either the spear pierces the shield, or the shield blocks the spear.

The Wiki never lies, so both outcomes must happen simultaneously.

That’s a contradiction.

It’s illogical.

It means there’s a fundamental conflict in the definitions of the Item and the anomaly.

That’s why I formed a hypothesis: that a certain hierarchy exists among Items and anomalous phenomena.

If not, then there’s simply no way to resolve these contradictions.

Beachy Mutbyeol, the one presumed to be the “Great One Who Governs Knowledge,” probably knows the truth,but it’s not like she personally implanted that knowledge into my head, so… it’s all just a hypothesis for now.

Who knows?

If I ever uncover the redacted part of Yui Seul’s Iron Sword No. 3, maybe its rank will rise.

But whatever the case may be, one thing’s certain—Yui Seul is a monster.

Even if she could cut through gravity, the fact remains that a single misstep could’ve gotten her whole body sucked into a black hole.

The sheer fact that she accepted that risk makes it undeniable—this person really is a monster.

Alright then.

This is an Anomalous Phenomenon that even a monster like Yui Seul couldn’t resolve.

“And now you want me to handle it? A total rookie who just Awakened two months ago?”

“Who said you’re handling it alone? I’m saying we’ll do it together.”

“Sorry, but… you do know that my ability only activates at close range, right?”

“I know.”

“Then how can you even ask me to do this? I mean, yeah, my body’s tough, but still—if I get sucked into a black hole and torn to pieces…”

“That would be unfortunate.”

“You’re insane!”

“Calm down. I’ll carve out a path for you. You just focus on gathering accurate info on the phenomenon. You won’t be torn apart.”

“That’s easy for you to say… Aah, dear God!”

At this point, it felt like solving this Anomalous Phenomenon would absolutely require the divine blessing of Beachy Mutbyeol.

Please, grant me your blessing.

I’m begging you.

Dear blue-collar uncle from the floor below—this is why I have no choice but to become a fanatic.